The present disclosure relates generally to information handling systems, and more particularly to a demand based power allocation for multiple information handling systems.
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option is an information handling system (IHS). An IHS generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements may vary between different applications, IHSs may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in IHSs allow for IHSs to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, IHSs may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
A server IHS is generally understood as an IHS dedicated to running a server application. A server application is a program or a set of instructions that accepts network connections to service requests from other IHSs by sending back responses to the requesting IHSs. Examples of server applications include mail servers, file servers, proxy servers, and others. A server is simply an IHS that provides services or resources to other IHSs.
Blade servers are generally understood as self-contained IHS servers provided for high density computing using a minimum of extra components. While a standard rack-mount server IHS may include with (at least) a power cord and network cable, blade servers may have many components removed for space, power and other considerations, while still having the functional components to be considered an IHS. A blade enclosure to hold multiple blade servers may provide services such as, power, cooling, networking, interconnects and management. Together the blade servers and the blade enclosure form the blade system.
A problem with server systems is that electrical power may be withheld/throttled from one server and provided to another server, causing the throttled server to be forced to run below maximum performance. As such, there is no server power re-balancing mechanism in server chassis post power allocation to blades such as for blade servers. A subset of blades may end up continuously getting throttled (i.e., continue to run at much lower performance) while another subset of blades may have a surplus (based on current load).
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an improved demand based power allocation/reallocation absent the disadvantages discussed above.